Raising social care workers’ awareness of young onset dementia
Resources to raise awareness among social care staff about the social care needs of people with young onset dementia and their families.
Dementia in Younger Ages Mapping Ideal Care (DYNAMIC) research project
The DYNAMIC research project about social care planning and provision for people with young onset dementia and their families in England was funded by the NIHR Research for Social Care programme and took place between 2023–25.
It involved researchers from the Universities of Bradford and York and built on a finding from The Angela Project that social care is key to living well with young onset dementia. The DYNAMIC project explored social care for people with young onset dementia in depth, identified how social care support could be improved and co-produced two resources for improvement. If you want to find out more about adult social care in England visit the King’s Fund website.
Brief overview of methods used in the DYNAMIC project
Work started by gathering information through two workstreams:
- Speaking in-depth with people with lived experience of young onset dementia about their needs and experiences of social care
- Surveying staff with knowledge of social care in England to gather their views on social care for people with young onset dementia and their families.
Findings from this work were fed back to a diverse group of relevant stakeholders who helped identify two priority areas of improvement:
- To raise awareness amongst social care staff about the social care needs of people with young onset dementia and their families
- To improve strategies to help manage the financial impact of living with young onset dementia
Examples of good practice in these two areas were gathered by looking at existing published evidence and interviewing professional staff. Then small groups of people living with young onset dementia, professional staff and other relevant experts worked together to co-produce resources to address each area.